Let's say you're among best in the world at some bizarre sport that only gets attention every four years. You can't make money doing it for a living, and eventually you fall on hard times. At the end of your rope, you go to a pawn shop to sell your most treasured possession: your Olympic medal. How much would you get for it? Let's just say, I hope you finished in the top two.

• The gold medal is largely silver, 92.5 percent silver with a bit of copper mixed in for strength. But they're gilded in about 6 grams of 24k gold. Their street value: about $644.

• The silver medal's composition is the same as the gold, except without the gilding. With no gold, the silver medal is worth about $330.

• The bronze medal is not bronze at all. Mostly copper, with a bit of zinc and tin, it's basically a giant penny. It's worth a little less than $5.

Of course for those who actually earned the medals, they're worth more. They're a lot like those commemorative coins they advertise on the Military Channel, with the Twin Towers on one side and a weeping bald eagle on the other—ask your grandpa, you can't put a price on history.